3 Mantras of Entrepreneurship – 1.2 Decisiveness and Problem Solving

The way we make decisions affects the way we solve problems. In making decisions, I always believe that if you face a situation in which you are left with just a couple of alternatives that are difficult to choose from, then the solution is to just go ahead and choose any one of these alternatives. – Mr Inderjit Singh, The Art and Science of Entrepreneurship

Many of us are guilty of overthinking and overanalyzing things, sometimes to the point where we do not even accomplish the work we set out to do. There can be so many options, which one do we choose???

If you are caught between 2 or 3 alternatives and do not know what to do, it may be best just to pick one anyways. Toss a coin if you have to! No, we are not asking you to depend on luck. But if you have brought it down to a few alternatives that means you have done the research thoroughly and they are pretty similar. So even if the outcomes were not the same, you would get some results and even though they may not be what you expected they would at least give you a new direction and new inputs to work with to solve the problem.

Sometimes we just go into Analysis Paralysis, where we overanalyze something until we end up not taking a decision, and truth be told, that is way worse than making a wrong decision. At least with a wrong decision you have taken a step and it can be rectified or altered.

The key thing about being an entrepreneur is to operate under uncertainty. Unlike usual jobs, where the information is provided, entrepreneurs have to take on to pursuing their projects with lots of uncertainty. They may not have all the information right from the start and they have to do a lot of testing to navigate their way through.

This is where the real entrepreneurs get separated from the rest. Real entrepreneurs know that putting off a problem will not make it go away. They will have to make a decision and solve the issue. And in certain cases, you may not have the full information to help you solve the problem. This is where you will have to go with your gut feel and be decisive about your actions.

Entrepreneurs understand that a delay in taking action is a bigger sin, than choosing a less effective solution, because even if the decision made leads to a less effective solution, further changes, modifications and additional solutions can help move the process of problem solving further on, and when new information surfaces, fine tuning can lead to an even better solution.

It is all about how you look at risk and failure. If you look at failure as the end, you will be defeated before you even try, and YOU HAVE TO TRY MANY TIMES to succeed. Understand that failure is there for you to learn and grow and that by cutting down your risk as much as possible, you will not be hit hard by failed projects.

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The idea behind EntreCity is to help entrepreneurs build successful businesses. We want to achieve this by helping people build an entrepreneurial mindset and to arm them with the technical tools to start and grow businesses. Whether or not you are ready to start a business, EntreCity aims to help everyone to think with an entrepreneurial mindset.